Forum Discussion
- BusskipperExplorer
5thwheeleroldman wrote:
We love to escape the heat/humidity of E Texas in the summer, but have gotten past driving to the coast of Calif.
Dont like Ruidoso or Durango; still too far anyway.
Reckon we could enjoy Royal Gorge area for a few weeks, or too boring?
We don't do much anymore, just eat out and try to stay cool.
Sorry not a fan of Royal Gouge too touristy, just not why I go to Colorado.
You need to get to some Elevation - Colorado - Leadville, 10,000' - Pagosa Springs - Ouray - Silverton - Lake City, all come to mind.
You are the one who lives in Texas - BIG STATE - so not easy to get out of without a little drive - so seriously look to Colorado, bounce around to a few different spots in the above 8,000' elevation, try to get close to a good ski town = good restaurants, then enjoy the summer.
I'm more of a fan of smaller more Intimate small towns - If cool is the Mission then Leadville is the Place - Real town - Real Food - Quincy's - and many others once you tire of Steak - Close to Buena Vista and the Collegiates - More restaurants more Mountains.
Hope this helps,
On edit let me add this Map of places to visit for a COOL Summer. - IvylogExplorer IIIX2 on the above plus I'd add the South Fork area as the base camp to explore from in your PU.
- Mandalay_ParrExplorerThe mountain towns in northern New Mexico are nice. Eagle Nest, Red River and Angel Fire to name a few.
- padredwNomadWhat more can I say. Just that I agree with every one of the suggestions above. If you follow any one of them, you won't go wrong.
I'll just add one other possibility: the Vallecito Lake area near Durango, especially Blue Spruce RV Park all the way up against the Weminuche Wilderness Area. - jmtandemExplorer II
but have gotten past driving to the coast of Calif.
Have you done all the Pacific Coast highway? If not, you are not done. Royal Gorge area has about two hours of stuff to do; Pacific Coast highway Mexico to Canada a lifetime of stuff to do. - BB_TXNomadWe also like the South Fork area, and it is not much farther than Royal Gorge from TX. Beautiful area at over 8,500' so it is cool even in mid summer. And a short drive to Pagosa Springs over Wolf Creek Pass, Creede, Lake City, Cumbres & Toltec steam railroad (great trip), Great Sand Dunes, and lots of lakes, rivers, streams, forest service roads into the mountains, etc. to explore.
- LaurenExplorerWhen we lived in CO we called it the Royal Gouge - not much there and pricey. Working hard at it you might fill a half day or so.
We have been back a few times to CO since we moved out 14 years ago and again this summer. We love the southwest part of the state - Buena Vista, etc.
Being from TX you might be cautious of altitude however.
We love CO and so much there - Royal Gouge would be at the bottom of the list. - Thom02099Explorer IIBy going to Canon City/Royal Gorge area, you'll be escaping the humidity, but not the heat. At around 5300 feet, that's really not considered at elevation by Colorado standards. And during the summer, the Pueblo general area (which would include Canon City) can get quite hot.
That said, unlike the other posters, I think the Royal Gorge area has a lot to offer. Yes, it's touristy, but it's beautiful as well. That area was ravaged by fires a few years back, so it should be interesting to see how it's recovered, both nature and structures. I would not, however, plan to spend up to 3 weeks in that area, unless you wanted to use it as a base for some of the other suggestions. There are better base areas.
If you have 3 weeks, why not split them up? A week in the Royal Gorge area, a week in Salida, and a week in South Fork. Keeps you in the central/south central mountain areas where it will be cooler, and give you diversity of things to see/do, as others have pointed out. - MWJonesExplorerX2 for South Fork
- dblrExplorerI will throw another vote out there for the New Mexico area, Red River Angel Fire and Taos, with Taos probably being the more expensive of them all.
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